Griffon Bruxellois | The Bruery

Notes / Commercial Description:
We debuted Griffon Bruxellois late in 2012 at a few of our events and it was quite a hit. This dark, sour ale was aged in oak barrels on cherries, giving it an incredible fruit flavor, balanced by the roasted malt and lactic tartness. We must admit, this bottle-conditioned beer didn't turn out quite as carbonated as we were hoping for, but it is still an incredible beer, 100% worthy of our high standards to be sold, served, shared and enjoyed!

A: Cloudy brown/reddish (mostly brown) color. Tiny white head that dissipated immediately.
S: Some rubber at first but followed by cherries, sour fruits, citrus and lactic acid.
T: Earthy, funky, musty. Lots of fruits, especially cherries. Some berries, some lemons.
M: Could have used more carbonation but it had a nice, tart, dry finish.
O: This beer had great flavors but overall wasn't too impressed.

A still, light cranberry in color. Only a few small bubbles of emerging carbonation, but, for the most part, this beer is flat. Just dots of stick are left down the glass.

A nice aroma. Good amounts of lactic sour character, sharp cherry notes, some oak, and just a bit of vinegar. Appropriate and quite nice.

As with the aroma, the flavor is packed with cherry and sour flavors, along with mild oak, and a bit of a vinegar character, though it's not too much it's distracting or a pervasive flaw. Tasty, but very sour.

Medium bodied with basically zero carbonation. This would clearly be better with appropriate carbonation.

A - Dark cherry wood. Opaque as no light gets through it. Light carbonation trailing upwards and there is only a small white head

S - Dark tart cherry is the main presence in the nose. Balsamic vinegar and oak as well. The cherries definitely smell ripe and juicy. As it warms up the tartness and the balsamic vinegar begin to pick up.

T - Dark sour cherries up front with balsamic vinegar and cherry warhead sourness that gives it a tart bit near the back end. The finish is definitely tart and leaves a tart bite in the finish.

M - Rather low carbonation for the style. Light body and with all of the tartness the beer does manage to have a good zing. The finish leaves a slightly butter thickness on the tongue which I get in a lot of Breury sours.

O - Pretty good dark sour from the Breury. It isn't one of their best sours but it is better than average. It has a good tartness to it as well as a lot of cherry flavor.